ParalympicsGB chef de mission Craig Hunter is optimistic the team can achieve
their medal targets as the countdown to London continues.

UK Sport have set ParalympicsGB the minimum target of winning 103 medals from at least 12 different sports, with the overall goal of once again finishing second in the medal table.

Britain won 102 medals, including 42 golds, in Beijing four years ago to claim second place for a third consecutiveParalympic Games.

But having received more than £49million of funding over the last four years, Great Britain will be hoping to build on their success and Hunter says he thinks they will have no problem doing so.

"We would certainly not be able to be competing at the level we are without that support and we are extremely grateful that with that support and with other organisations that have come in to help us in all sorts of ways the team is absolutely best prepared," he told Radio Five Live.

"One of the things we pushed for is parity of funding of Olympics and Paralympic sport so absolutely the model needed to be consistent.

"We are hopeful that all our sports will come through and will beat their medal targets and performance targets and the funding will come their way.

"But let's not focus on funding at the moment. The important thing for us absolutely is the opening ceremony on Wednesday and then 11 days of outstanding competition and everybody getting behind our team and making sure we win plenty of medals."

He added: "We have got our biggest ever team: 300 athletes competing on behalf of Great Britain which is an amazing achievement by those athletes.

"All of them are absolutely capable of winning medals, the traditional sports of cycling, rowing, swimming, athletics – they are going to be bags full of medals.

"But also ones to watch are things like basketball, rugby – amazingly exciting and powerful sports – and sitting volleyball on the team for the first time. Who knows what they might do? They are certainly inspired to get in there in the medal hunt, we are going to be looking for medals across more sports.

"They are out there to prove some points about how wonderful Paralympic sport really is."